Aghu | |
---|---|
Central Awyu | |
Region | South Papua, Indonesia |
Native speakers | (<14,000 cited 1987–2002) [1] |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either:
ahh – Aghu
awu – Central Awyu |
Glottolog |
mapp1234 |
Aghu, or Central Awyu, is a Papuan language of South Papua, Indonesia. It may actually be two languages, depending on one's criteria for a 'language'. The two varieties are: [2] Mappi River Awyu (Aghu) and Pasue River Awyu (Nohon, Mitak).[ citation needed]
The phonology of the Aghu language: [3]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | |||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
voiced | b | d~ ɾ | ɡ | ||
Fricative | f | s~ ʃ | x | ||
Approximant | w | j |
Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Close | i iː | y yː | u uː | |
Mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | ||
Open | a aː |
The front rounded vowel /y/ is unusual among local languages in Indonesia. At the ends of words, vowels may appear both long and nasalized. This occurs historically where there was a final nasal /m/ or /n/. Within words, rather than nasal vowels there are sequences of vowel plus nasal consonant which matches the articulation of the following consonant. Thus nasal vowels may be analyzed as /Vn/ or /VN/.